THE NEW POLICEMAN

Age Range: 12 - 14

Pub Date: Feb. 1st, 2007ISBN: 0-06-117427-0Publisher: Greenwillow

J.J. Liddy sometimes wishes he could go clubbing like the other boys instead of playing fiddle at his family’s dances every weekend. Still, he loves the music. If only there were more time—for it seems everyone is running around these days, late for breakfast, late for school, late for dancing. Hoping to buy a bit of time for his mother’s birthday, he finds himself in to Tír na n’Óg, land of the ever young. There he meets the fairy folk, pleasure-loving musicians who explain that time’s been leaking from his world into theirs. Not only is this responsible for the terrible rush that plagues J.J.’s life, but it is bringing aging and death to the usually unchanging world of the fairies. Extremely short chapters interspersed with musical scores of appropriate traditional tunes create a choppy start, but the novel, rich with Irish flavor, quickly warms up as time passes too quickly in both worlds. A wholly satisfying resolution returns all characters to their homes—with a bit of crossing-over fun. Charming. (Fantasy. 12-14)